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Kalhor’s World Tour Opens in Germany

Kalhor’s World Tour Opens in Germany
Kalhor’s World Tour Opens in Germany

A duet performance by Iranian musician Kayhan Kalhor and Azerbaijani singer Alim Qasimov will launch the 10th Morgenland Festival Osnabrück, in Germany, on September 19.

This is the first time Kalhor and Qasimov, one of the foremost ‘mugham’ singers in Azerbaijan are collaborating, honaronline reported. Qasimov was awarded the International Music Council-UNESCO Music Prize in 1999, one of the highest international accolades for music.

The German festival has taken place since 2005 and enjoys excellence reputation among international music festivals. The annual program provides an overview of contemporary musical culture of the Middle East. The festival is a platform for collaborative performances, where musicians from the East and West come together to develop and present joint music projects of high artistic quality.

In this year’s festival which concludes on September 30, besides workshops, podium discussions and an exhibition, the University of Osnabrück is also organizing a symposium on ‘the language of popular music.’ Some prominent musicians from Armenia, Syria, Lebanon, Turkey, and Germany will attend the festival as well.

The internationally-acclaimed Kalhor is set for the global stage through solo, duet performances as well as concerts presented by the Silk Road Ensemble.

Born in Iran in 1963, Kalhor is a ‘Kamancheh’ (knee fiddle) player, composer and master of classical Kurdish and Persian music. An incredible virtuoso having been nominated for the Grammy award thrice, the prominent musician has been instrumental in popularizing Persian music in the West. Other than his albums and concerts, he has also composed music for films and serials and was most recently featured on the soundtrack of Francis Ford Copolla’s ‘Youth Without Youth’ in a score that he collaborated with Osvaldo Golijov.

 Global Cooperation

Cooperating with Indian musician Sandeep Das, one of the leading tabla players in the world, Kalhor held a concert on August 22 in Washington. Das has been nominated twice for the Grammy Award. His 2003 recording with Ghazal ensemble, including Kayhan Kalhor, was nominated for a Grammy, as was the Silk Road Ensemble’s 2009 album ‘Off the Map’. In 2001, Das performed a work composed by Kalhor with the New York Philharmonic.

On August 27, Kalhor performed on the stage together with the Turkish baglama player Erdal Erzincan, in Izmir, Turkey. These two high-profile artists had several global concerts together in fall 2004. They also share an album ‘The Wind’ released in 2006.

 East and West

Kalhor is a member of Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Project and his compositions appear on all three of the ensemble’s albums. The Silk Road Ensemble, conducted by the well-known French American cellist Yo-Yo Ma, will begin its concert tours from late September. Launching from Asia, the group will travel to Europe and finally reach America. In the 2.5-month journey, the world-class musicians will perform in several countries such as Japan, China, Turkey, France, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and the US.

Yo-Yo Ma established Silk Road Ensemble in 1998 to create a link between the music of the East and the West. Professional musicians from 20 different countries are in the group, which has since held concerts in many countries and cities, especially in the members’ hometowns.

Kalhor’s music is a journey to the roots of tradition where he comes from. It takes the listener to a world of musical ecstasy and gives him extreme spiritual joy combined with peace.

 

Financialtribune.com